In a large skillet cook the bacon until crispy.  Let drain on some paper towels, chop up and set aside.  You can either use the bacon grease, or pour it out like I did and melt the butter on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for about a minute, being careful not to let it burn. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for one more minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in the chicken broth and milk, decrease heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add the thyme, sherry, salt, pepper and chicken.  Stir to mix together and remove from heat.

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp chilled and cubed unsalted butter
4 Tbsp chilled and cubed vegetable shortening ( I use Spectrum non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening)
4 Tbsp ice water

In a large bowl combine the flour and salt, add the chilled butter and using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in a few times.  Add the shortening and continue to cut in until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Now slowly pour in the ice water, 1 tbsp at a time until the dough sticks together.  You may need less than the 4 Tbsp, or you may need to use it all, use your eye to gauge after each tablespoon. Remove the dough and mold into a ball.

Roll out dough and cut 6 circles to fit inside your ramekins.  Place the dough circles into the ramekins and fill each dish with the chicken mixture. Sprinkle the chopped up bacon on top of the chicken. You can cut the circles a bit larger than the dishes, and just fold the dough over the top of your mixture, or you can cut the tops separately and seal the edges with a fork. Brush with an egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water.)

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 min or until the pies are golden and the filling is bubbling. Cool for 5 min before serving.







                              

I love finding ways to make homemade versions of store bought staples.  Chicken broth is one thing that's so easy to make at home, is less expensive, and you know exactly what's in it. 

I used to wonder what the difference between chicken broth and chicken stock was, or if they were the same thing.  While they do contain the same ingredients, the difference is in the cooking method.

Chicken broth is made from mainly chicken meat and parts, with more meat than bones. Stock is made from chicken parts and bones, with more bones than meat. Simple huh?

When making broth it's reduced for 3 hours, and chicken stock is reduced for at least 6 hours.  Since stock has a longer reduction time, it contains more gelee from the bones. (That gross brown jelly-looking stuff.)

This makes stock better for de-glazing a pan than broth, because the gelee helps to bind the pan drippings together to form a pan sauce.

Anyway, that's the basic explanation of the two.  I like to make chicken broth from the leftover carcass when I roast a chicken.  It makes for a flavorful broth, and I feel like I'm being frugal. :)

Chicken Broth 

1 leftover cooked chicken ( about 5 lb.)
1 medium onion cut in half (optional)
2 large carrots trimmed and peeled  (optional)
1 root end of a whole celery stalk, 2 inches long (optional)
1/2 cup parsley, stems only (optional)
salt (optional)
cold water to cover ingredients by 2 inches

Step One: Place your leftover chicken carcass in a large stockpot and cover with water until chicken is covered by two inches of water.  Since your roasted chicken has herbs and seasonings already in it, you can just use the chicken or you can add the extra vegetables for added flavor. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours. After the first boil, use a large spoon to skim any residue floating on the surface.

Step Two: Remove carcass, bones and vegetables from the broth.  If there was any leftover meat on the chicken, remove the meat and save. Discard bones and vegetables, then pour broth through a fine strainer into a large bowl.  Add salt to taste, as needed or desired.  Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Step Three: The next day, remove all of the solidified fat from the surface of the broth with a large spoon.  Then pour the broth through a strainer one more time.

Now, I like to pour half cup portions of the broth into muffin pans and freeze.  Once frozen, remove the frozen portions of broth and place in a freezer bag.  This will keep for several months in the freezer.  Whenever you need broth, you can just remove as much of the portions as you need, and defrost them for use.

Tip: You can use the leftover chicken in salads, casseroles, chicken salad, sandwiches, etc.  If you have a leftover chicken, but don't want to make the broth right away, freeze the chicken until you are ready.  You can also wait until you have several leftover chickens, then un-thaw and make one large batch.

I love the word roast. For me, it conjures up images of deeply golden brown, caramelized food. Juicy. Succulent, with a hint of sweetness. It is universal throughout the changing seasons, where in the summer it can be paired with words like marshmallows and corn, or in the fall with sweet potatoes and apples. This simple, rustic chicken recipe has few ingredients but it turns out so well.

Roast Chicken with Thyme, Lemon & Garlic

1 Chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds)
Salt
4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
10 sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves (fresh is best)
6 potatoes cut into chunks (peeled or unpeeled)
2 lemons, juiced
4 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels.  Put breast side down in a roasting pan.  Put a little salt, 1 garlic clove, 3 of the thyme sprigs, and 1 of the bay leaves in the cavity of the chicken.  Place the potatoes and the rest of the garlic around the chicken.  Pour the lemon juice over the top of the chicken.

Rub some butter over the skin of the chicken, then dot the rest over the potatoes.  Place the rest of the thyme over the chicken and under the potatoes. Sprinkle some salt over the potatoes and chicken.

Pour the cup of water around the edge of the pan.  Roast for about 1 hour or until the chicken is nicely browned.  Turn it over and spoon the pan juices over the chicken and potatoes.  Roast for about another hour, or until it is deep golden and the juices run clear.  My chicken didn't turn out as pretty as I'd hoped, but it sure was juicy and tasty.

(adapted from Apples for Jam)

My oven is possessed.  It tried to attack me tonight, which resulted in two huge red burns on my arm.  I think it has been harboring evil intentions, but I will get to this in a minute. I've made my own biscuits for a while now.  I mean, why buy the canned variety, when you can make a much better tasting homemade biscuit in just a few minutes?  In the past I've used the basic biscuit recipe from my red and white checkered cookbook...you know the one, it's probably sitting on almost every cook's shelf.  While it produces a perfectly tasty biscuit, it's not the melt-in-your-mouth kind that has you closing your eyes and saying "mmmmmmmmmmm".

I recently came across the perfect biscuit recipe, one with the aforementioned criteria.  It is worth your while to head over to Pinch My Salt to read the full post, since it has many tips and tricks to help you get the optimal results.  One thing that stands out in this recipe is the 500 degree oven it calls for, this high temperature and the evil shenanigans of my oven, are what resulted in my near third degree burns.  The other major difference is the flour.  I won't go into full detail, you can read that in the original post, but this recipe uses a mixture of cake flour and all-purpose flour.  This results in a lower protein content which helps with a tender, fluffy biscuit.  Try these....trust me you won't be sorry.

So Good Buttermilk Biscuits      
                  
1 1/4 cup cake flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, cut into small chunks
3/4 cup buttermilk

Set your oven to 500 degrees.  It is important to have everything set up before you make your biscuits: Cut your butter into small pieces, place in a bowl and return to the fridge.  Put your buttermilk in a measuring cup, and set aside.  Lightly flour your work surface and keep a little extra flour aside for your biscuit cutter and hands.  Set out your biscuit cutter and an un-greased baking sheet.

**In a medium-large bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.  Cut in butter with a fork, pastry blender, or your fingertips, until you get coarse crumbs.  Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir lightly until the dough just comes together in a ball.  It will look shaggy and uneven.

**Turn dough out onto floured surface.  With floured hands, gently knead the dough a few times to finish mixing.  Pat into a 3/4-1 inch thick circle.  Cut biscuits my pressing straight down, do not twist the cutter.  Form any scraps into extra biscuits using your hands.  Don't re-roll the dough.  Place the biscuits on a baking sheet so that the sides are touching.  Optional: Brush melted butter over the tops of biscuits before baking.

**Put the baking sheet on the middle rack of your preheated oven.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.  Mine took about 9 minutes.  Remove biscuits to a cooling rack for a few minutes.  Eat warm and enjoy!

 Tips:  My mother always taught me to handle your biscuit dough as little as possible.  Also, my grandfather (who was a baker) said to never twist the biscuit cutter while pressing down, this pinches the dough and they will not turn out as fluffy.  Make sure your butter is cold. Do not bring it out until you are ready to cut it into the flour.

(Recipe from Pinch My Salt)

Today I realized I hadn't made muffins in a very long time.  So long in fact, that when I started making them my little buddy said, "Yay, cupcakes!"  He has obviously never seen me make muffins for breakfast.  Some might argue that the line between muffins and cupcakes is very thin, but I think these little muffins are decidedly more on the wholesome muffin side.  I adapted the recipe for Allspice Crumb Muffins from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I started to make the recipe as written, with all-purpose flour.  If I'm making a recipe for the first time, I usually follow it exactly to see how it turns out before I start with my "healthier" substitutions. But this time I decided to just go for it, and they turned out pretty good.  Using whole wheat pastry flour allowed them to be lighter than using regular whole wheat flour.  They stayed moist and I could really taste the allspice flavor, which I think complemented the nuttier taste of the whole wheat pastry flour.  As expected, they didn't rise quite as high as they would have had I used all-purpose flour, but that didn't bother me...or my son who loved his "cupcakes".


Whole Wheat Allspice Crumble Muffins

For the muffins:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup turbinado sugar (if using regular sugar; 1/2 cup white sugar & 1/4 light brown sugar)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

For the crumb topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or light brown sugar)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
                             
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.  Butter or spray 12 count regular-size muffin pan, or I just used paper cups in the muffin pan.  Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Streusel: In a small bowl make the crumb topping: Combine flour, turbinado/brown sugar and allspice together.  Add the cut up cold butter and using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredient until you have pea sized crumbs.  Place in the refridgerator white you prepare the muffins.

Muffins: In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt together.  In a separate bowl, whisk the cooled melter butter, milk and vanilla together until well combined.  Now pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients, and gently stir with a spatula to blend.  It is OK if the batter remains lumpy, this is how it should look.  If you want to use the lemon zest, stir it into the batter now.  Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, and sprinkle some of the crumb topping over each muffin,.  Use your fingers to gently press the crumbs into the batter.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Place the pan on a cooling rack and let sit for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the pan.



(adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours)

Since I had leftover chicken from the mammoth size split chicken breasts I grilled last night, I wanted to be thrifty and use them for my lunch today. I opened the fridge door and perused the shelves to see what I could put together. There was a pint of blueberries that were nearing their shelf life, and an almost empty tub of sour cream. 

I decided to do some experimenting and came up with this blueberry chicken salad.  I was pleasantly surprised that all of the flavors went well together, and other than almost choking on a piece of bone that got mixed in with the chicken...it was a yummy lunch.  Some of the measurements are approximations, since I did a lot of throwing in a little of this and that, but it's pretty close.  You can adjust things to suit your own tastes.  Next time I'll add some toasted pecans or walnuts and a little celery for added crunch, but I was short on ingredients today so I had to work with what I had.

Blueberry Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken breast
1/3 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup chopped apples (I used about 1/4 - 1/3 cup; gala or braeburn are my favorite)
1/4 cup sour cream
1-2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (I used about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
1/8 tsp dill
salt & pepper to taste

Place chicken, blueberries, and apples in a medium sized bowl.  In a separate bowl combine sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, rosemary, dill, salt and pepper.  Add some of the sour cream mixture to your chicken, until you reach your desired consistency. Gently toss together.  I don't like too much mayonnaise in my chicken salad, so I only used about half of the sour cream/mayonnaise mixture.  Alternately, you could use another cup of chicken to use up the rest of the sauce.  Serve on a bed of spinach or make into a tasty sandwich.  Enjoy!